Wojciech Szczesny: The LATEST on my Arsenal future

The Pole, who joined the Gunners nine years ago from Legia Warsaw, has spent the majority of the second-half of the season on the sidelines as he was caught smoking in the shower moments after the Londoners' 2-0 defeat to Southampton on New Year's Day.

Szczesny's future at the Emirates has been the subject of intense speculation since Arsene Wenger made the decison to drop him and he has been linked with a move away from the Emirates.

However, the charismatic stopper - who played in the FA Cup Final - has pledged his future to the north Londoners and has insisted he has no intention of ever leaving the Emirates.

"Speaking honestly, it hasn't been quite as awful a time for me as it might have seemed from the outside,” Szczesny said.

“I’ve got a really good relationship with the boys in the squad as well as with the boss.

STAYING PUT: Szczesny has ruled out leaving Arsenal [GETTY]

“I love this club and I don't want to ever leave it”

Wojciech Szczesny

“I fully accept the boss' decisions, whatever they may be. Of course, it's understandable that your pride feels hurt and your ambition dented. That's only natural and to be expected.

“But I got my chance today and I'm really grateful to the boss for that. I believe that I took my chance well, or as well as I could, since I kept a clean sheet, even if the way the game went I didn't honestly have too many situations to avoid letting the team down.

“I concentrated on demonstrating calmness and authority as the basis for our defensive set-up. I think it worked well from that perspective.

“Hopefully our defensive solidity was one of the reasons why they were unable to really test us too much during the match. To have come through such a challenge leaves you with a really special feeling of satisfaction, and so I'm very grateful to the manager for selecting me to play this time.

“People love to speculate and people love to gossip a bit. But I love this club and I don't want to ever leave it.”